Home is Whenever I'm With You
by willcryptograham
Summary: Steve is struggling to cope in his new life with the help of his new girlfriend, Molly, the head cashier at a cafe in Central Park. When things are starting to go well, Nick Fury calls Steve with news that he has to report to S.H.I.E.L.D to fight Loki. Molly worries about the effect this will have on him after fighting in WWII, and she may be on to something.
1. Chapter 1

Steve agreed with Nick to pack up, and move in temporarily at S.H.I.E.L.D while they rounded up the others and tried to find out more on Loki. He wanted to help as much as he could, so with some difficulty he called Molly at work. She urged him to try to learn how to text, but he refused. It was one thing he couldn't fathom.

Molly's phone buzzed on the table. She glanced at the caller ID and sighed. Why couldn't he just text her? "I'm so sorry, I'll be right with you. This could be an emergency. My, uh, my boyfriend-" she shut her eyes, shaking her head. "Sorry, you don't want to hear that," she said, answering her phone, "Steve, are you okay?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine, Molly," he took a deep breath, "Nick wants me to report to S.H.I.E.L.D to defend against Loki." Molly frowned on the other end. She knew, of course, what fighting in World War II did to him. The idea of him going to fight again made her uneasy. "Okay," she said, cradling the phone between her head and shoulder and working on the order that was waiting, "When do you have to leave?"

"Monday."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Okay, can I come over tonight when I'm done with work?"

"Yes, of course. Please, do."

"Okay," she said, clicking off her phone. Taking a deep breath, Molly turned back to her customer. "Here you go," she said with a forced smile, "Have a nice day." The man smiled, turned, and left, leaving the distressed girl alone. If Steve had to do any actual fighting, god knows what it would do to him... But she was being ridiculous, Steve could hold his own. Hopefully.

At the end of her shift, Molly hopped onto the subway, nervously tapping her foot all 7 stops. She stepped off the train and onto the crowded platform, weaving through people left and right. Her sneakers hit the pavement a bit too fast, and she skidded out of the station and onto the sidewalk. Zipping down a few streets and then around a corner, the girl arrived at Steve's apartment building. She waved a quick hello to the doorman, and slid into the elevator. The doors opened to the eighth floor, and she exited into the carpeted hallway with quiet footsteps, pulling her keys out of her bag. She came to Steve's door, and with a click, opened the lock. "Molly?" came his voice from the kitchen, "Is that you?"

"Yeah." Her bag hit the floor with a thud, and she entered into the living room, where he could usually be found. The two walked straight in to an embrace. "I can't believe you're going." said Molly, "This sucks." She pressed her nose into his shoulder and closed her eyes, exhausted. "And I'm not so sure you going to battle... or whatever... is a good idea."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked, twiddling a bit of her hair between his fingers.

"I'm just worried about you. I don't like the idea of you going back to war or... battle or whatever you want to call it."

"I don't want you worrying about me, I'll be absolutely fine."

"You don't know that. I know what the war did to you, I mean-," she pulled away, "jeez, what about Peggy and Bucky?"

"Molly, you know you're the only girl for me and-"

"That isn't what I mean! You've lost so much already, I'm not too excited about you running off to fight off god knows what! People are going to get hurt and I know you're going to blame yourself and-!"

"Molly, please calm down," Steve said quietly, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Everything's gonna be fine as long as you have a little faith in me, okay?"

"Steve, of course I have faith in you, I just want to keep you safe and in the apartment." Simultaneously, the two let out a small laugh. Molly pulled Steve back into a hug. "I'm sorry, I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"No, no, don't apologize. I understand."

"Okay. Good. I don't want to spend tonight arguing."

"Neither do I." He kissed her forehead, causing a smile to creep across the girl's face. She reached to take his hands.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nope." Molly padded over to the phone and dialed. As it rung, she looked at Steve and mouthed; _Pizza? _Steve nodded, grinning.

She hung up the phone and plopped down on the couch, motioning for Steve to join her. He sat and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she slid an arm behind his back, leaning her head on his chest. They sat like that in silence for a while until the doorbell rang. Steve answered the door, and Molly put plates and napkins down on the table. He paid the delivery guy, and tossed Molly two cans of soda, and she set them down with the plates. Steve cleared his stuff off of the table and set down the pizza, while Molly dug around in the movies.

"What do you want to watch tonight?"

"Do you have a preference?"

"Nope."

"Hmm... What's that one with the man whose wife passes away and they-"

"We Bought a Zoo?"

"Oh, yeah."

"You want to watch that again?"

"If it's okay with you."

"God, you are so adorable," Molly said, smirking as she retrieved the DVD from the cabinet. She popped it into the player and settled down on the couch. "This one's your favorite isn't it? We have to get you to watch some manly movies."

"I was born close to like 90 years ago, give me a break." Steve said, poking her in the ribs. A yelp escaped Molly's lips as she jerked upwards, whacking her head directly into Steve's. She turned around slowly.

"Ooooh my god. Oh my god Steve. Steve, I am so sorry."

"Jeez Molly, you've got quite a skull there."

"Is it bleeding? Is it broken? Oh my god Steve, is it broken?"

"No, no it's fine honey," he said, pinching his nose. "It's- it's okay, Moll."

"I'm getting ice, it'll be fine," she called from the kitchen, "Right. Yeah it'll be okay."

"_Molly," _Steve said with a chuckle, "I'm okay." She returned with a towel filled with ice, pressing it against his nose. "Will you relax?" he said, his voice muffled, "I'm fine. You worry to much."

"Ssh." she hissed, "You're going to make it worse. I'm so sorry, Steve." He gently placed his hands over her own, moving from his face.

"Moll, what's the matter?" he asked, lacing his fingers in hers. She sighed.

"I just really don't want anything bad to happen to you. Especially on my account."

"Moll, you're joking."

"What?"

"You can't be serious. I mean... you're the best thing that has happened to me since I woke up here. One bonk to the nose isn't going to change that." She grinned, kissing his temple.

"Stand up, I want to hug you."

Steve laughed, obliging. She wrapped her arms around him, and he slipped his arms over her shoulders.

"I love you." Steve said quietly, "I love you so much."

"I love you too." she reached up and kissed him quickly, and then pulled him back down onto the couch to start the movie. He slid an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him, taking a moment just to look at him. There was no denying he was attractive, but there was something comforting in his face too. She was certainly going to miss that. They had the weekend, and then he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Molly was in Steve's apartment when the Chitauri invaded. She had missed him more than usual that day, so she found his spare key and let herself in. Friends was on, so she was watching that when the floor began to shake. It was slight at first, but then things on his desk started toppling over, and the show stopped, being replaced with a grim looking reporter.

"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. There has been a disturbance in the midtown area. A group of individuals seemingly involved with S.H.I.E.L.D have arrived at the scene and are currently trying to control what appear to be beings of another planet. Evacuation is recommended-" Molly clicked the TV off, and at the same time, there was a pounding on her door. She opened it to reveal Jane, Steve's next door neighbor.

"Molly! The super's called for evacuation. Everyone's supposed to go into the subways," she said breathlessly, "You've got to get Steve. Where is-"

"He's at work. Come on, let's get everyone else out." Molly stepped into the hallway, which was already crawling with the residents of the eighth floor. Jane and Molly took to banging on the doors of people who hadn't already come out to investigate the commotion. "Mrs. O'Connell?" Molly cried, "Mrs. O'Connell, ma'am, there's an evacuation in progress." The woman in question opened the door, a bit irritated.

"What? Molly, what are you-"

"Mrs. O'Connell, there's something going on, we need to evacuate. Get the kids, and go into the subway."

It went on like this for a while, and when they reached the end of the hall, Molly and Jane reunited and crammed into the staircase, making their way down to the lobby and onto the street. They could hear screaming not too far away as they spilled out onto the sidewalk with the other residents. Outside, it was positively swarming with people trying to get to safety. The two women made their way into a mob of people heading towards their nearest train station and finally they were on the platform. Jane guided Molly, who was becoming increasingly distressed by the second to a relatively less chaotic area of the crowded span of concrete. Molly let her back hit the wall as she slid down into a sitting position. Jane settled a bit more gracefully next to her. "Are you okay?" asked the blonde cautiously. Molly nodded, out of breath.

"Yeah. I'm... I'll be fine." She ran her hands through her hair, knotting it in a bun. "What about you? Where's your boyfriend? Josh, right?" Jane smiled.

"He's out visiting his parents in California. Thank God." Molly nodded.

"Good." There was quite a long pause after that, as the girl tried to gather her thoughts. Steve was undoubtedly out there. This was what she had been worrying about.

What seemed like hours passed, filled with screaming children and scattered sobs over a constant buzz of confusion. Molly did her best to keep the anxiety from getting a grip on her, but the more time passed, the more difficult it became. Steve could be dead, or at least injured and there wasn't anything she could do to help. She had no idea how long they would be down here, or how long the fighting would last or what would happen afterwards. She could lose him. She shut her eyes, and pulled her legs up to her chest, taking a deep breath. Jane placed a tentative hand on Molly's shoulder and the worried girl placed her own hand over Jane's. "We're going to be fine." Jane whispered, with a sympathetic smile. Molly nodded, looking straight ahead. Of course, Jane was right: _they _would be fine.

Molly was sure it had been a few years since she'd seen sunlight when it was deemed safe for civilians to return to their homes. She and Jane walked in silence back to the apartment building along with most of the crowd. Jane offered to let Molly stay over, but Molly told her to go check on her loved ones. They embraced, and Molly went back to Steve's apartment to gather her things. With shaky hands, she turned on the TV to the news station, praying that Steve and his team made it out unharmed. Immediately, there were shots of Steve and various other people in odd costume fighting unimaginably strange creatures. It turned her stomach if she was being honest with herself. Just then, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, confused, and then realized for all her parents knew she could be dead.

"Hello? Dad? Mom?" There was a sigh of relief from the other end.

"Julia, she's all right."

"Dad! Daddy, I'm so sorry are you okay? Is Mom okay? Is everything-"

"Everything's fine. We were just worried about you. I called Joey, he said the building's fine, none of the apartments were damaged, so you're good there. We were watching the news, there was a man who looked almost exactly like Steve out there." Molly bit her lip.

"Dad... Uh- Dad, that... was Steve." Silence from the other end.

"Oh my god."

"Dad? He's really wonderful, I mean you know, you've met him." she heard him set the phone down.

"Julia?" he called, "Julia our daughter is dating Captain America." Molly let out what was just barely a laugh when she heard a beep. The caller ID read Joey.

"Dad? Dad, Joey's calling, he doesn't know if I'm okay."

"Okay, you go ahead sweetheart. Tell... tell Cap- Steve we say hello."

"You got it Dad. I love you."

"I love you too." Molly switched calls.

"Joey?"

"Moll, thank god you're okay."

"Of course, I'm fine. How's Robin? And the kids?"

"Fine. Everyone's okay. What about Steve?"

"He's... fine. Have you been watching the news?"

"No, we were in the subways."

"Me too. Oh hey, have you called Leo?"

"Yeah, he's fine. But you should call him and tell him you're okay."

"Yeah, okay. And thanks for checking on my apartment."

"Anytime, Molly."

"Tell everyone I say hi, okay?"

"Absolutely. Say hi to Steve for me."

"Will do. We need to get together. Me and you and Leo and the gang. I want to see you guys."

"I'll shoot you an email. Listen, I gotta go, the kids-"

"Bye Joey." said Molly with a laugh.

"Bye." Molly hung up the phone and quickly dialed Leo's number.

"Hello?"

"Leo, it's me. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. What about you? And Steve?"

"Both fine. What about Anne?"

"She's okay. Her building got wrecked though, so they're evacuating it for renovation and stuff. So I guess we're moving in together." Molly smiled.

"Congratulations!"

"Yeah, I just wish these weren't the circumstances."

"Yeah. Hey look, me and Joey want to get the gang back together, with Melina and Jack and everyone."

"That sounds perfect. You know, I should give them a call."

"Great. Thank you. Send my love."

"Always. See you soon, Moll."

"See you Leo." And with that she hung up. It didn't make sense that Steve would come home right away, so she just laid down on the couch, exhausted. But she knew her best friends and her parents were okay, and Steve at least wasn't wounded enough for it to show up on TV. That was enough. She was sick of seeing news reports so she just shut off the television and shut her eyes. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.


End file.
